AP returns damaged ballot boxes for GHMC polls

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government has returned the damaged and worn-out  ballot boxes to Telangana state government for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls.

Of a total o f28,638, 70 per cent of them are rusted while lids of others are damaged which, officials say, will not be fit for use for elections. The Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) has asked nodal agencies to get these ballot boxes repaired by November 15 and send an official report by November 18.

The TSEC has sent 28,683 ballot boxes to the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh government for use during the local body elections. As the municipal elections in AP have been postponed, the TSEC had requested the Andhra Pradesh State Elections Commission APSEC to return the ballot boxes for the upcoming GHMC election.

Following the request, the AP government returned 7,111 ballot boxes from Visakhapatnam district, 5,458 from Chittoor, 357 from Anantapur, 841 from Prakasam, 1,300 from Nellore, 1,850 from Kadapa, 499 from East Godavari, 2,800 from Kurnool, 3,680 from Srikakulam, 2,597 from Krishna, 690 from Guntur and 1550 from West Godavari. Out of them, 70 per cent of them were foud to be worn-out, rusted and damaged.

Hinting that GHMC elections are fast approaching, the SEC has ordered that each and every ballot box be checked immediate and take up necessary repairs and painting.

After painting, the existing district codes such as NZB, WGL, NLG will be repainted on the box for easy return of the ballot boxes to concerned districts after completion of the election process.